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Speaker 1: January two thousand seven. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by
Speaker 1: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Adventure four the Boscombe Valley Mystery.
Speaker 1: We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and
Speaker 1: I when the maid brought in a telegram. It was
Speaker 1: from Sherlock Holmes and ran in this way, have you
Speaker 1: a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired
Speaker 1: for from the west of England in connection with Boscombe
Speaker 1: Valley tragedy. Shall be glad if you will come with
Speaker 1: me er in scenery perfect leave Paddington by the eleven fifteen.
Speaker 1: What do you say, dear, said my wife, looking across
Speaker 1: at me. Will you go? I really don't know what
Speaker 1: to say. I have a fairly long list at present.
Speaker 1: Oh Ann Struther, would do your work afore you. You
Speaker 1: have been looking a little pale lately. I think that
Speaker 1: the change would do you good. And you are always
Speaker 1: so interested in mister Sherlock Holmes's cases, I should be
Speaker 1: ungrateful if I were not seeing what I gained through
Speaker 1: one of them, I answered, But if I am to go,
Speaker 1: I must pack at once, for I have only half
Speaker 1: an hour. My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had
Speaker 1: at least had the effect of making me a prompt
Speaker 1: and ready traveler. My wants were few and simple, so
Speaker 1: that in less than the time stated, I was in
Speaker 1: a cab with my valise, rattling away to Pattinson Station.
Speaker 1: Sherlock Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall,
Speaker 1: gaunt figure made even gaunter and taller by his long
Speaker 1: gray traveling cloak and close fitting cloth cap. It is
Speaker 1: really very good of you to come, Watson, said he.
Speaker 1: It makes a considerable difference to me having someone with
Speaker 1: me on whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is
Speaker 1: always either worthless or else biased. If you will keep
Speaker 1: the two corner seats, I shall get the tickets. We
Speaker 1: had the carriage to ourselves, say for an immense litter
Speaker 1: of papers, which Holmes had brought with him. Among these
Speaker 1: he rummaged and read, with intervals of note taking and
Speaker 1: of meditation, until we were past reading. Then he suddenly
Speaker 1: rolled them all into a gigantic ball and tossed them
Speaker 1: up onto the rack. Have you heard anything of the case,
Speaker 1: he asked, not a word. I have not seen a
Speaker 1: paper for some days. The London press has not had
Speaker 1: very full accounts. I have just been looking through all
Speaker 1: the recent papers in order to master the particular. It seems,
Speaker 1: from what I gather, to be one of those simple
Speaker 1: cases which are so extremely difficult. That sounds little paradoxical,
Speaker 1: but it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a clue.
Speaker 1: The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more
Speaker 1: difficult today to bring it home. In this case, however,
Speaker 1: they have established a very serious case against the son
Speaker 1: of the murdered man. It is a murder, then, well
Speaker 1: it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing
Speaker 1: for granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally
Speaker 1: into it. I will explain the state of things to
Speaker 1: you as far as I have been able to understand it,
Speaker 1: in a very few words. Boscombe Valley is a country
Speaker 1: district not very far from ross and Herefordshire. The largest
Speaker 1: landed proprietor in that part is a mister John Turner,
Speaker 1: who made his money in Australia, and returned some years
Speaker 1: ago to the old country. One of the farms which
Speaker 1: he held, that of Heatherley, was lent to mister Charles McCarthy,
Speaker 1: who was also an ex Australian. The men had known
Speaker 1: each other in the colonies, so that it was not
Speaker 1: unnatural that when they came to settle down, that they
Speaker 1: should do so as near each other as possible. Turner
Speaker 1: was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his tenant,
Speaker 1: but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect equality,
Speaker 1: as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, a
Speaker 1: lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of
Speaker 1: the same age, but neither of them had wives living.
Speaker 1: They appear to have avoided the society of the neighboring
Speaker 1: English families, and to have led retired lives, though both
Speaker 1: the McCarthys were fond of sport and were frequently seen
Speaker 1: at the race meetings of the neighborhood. McCarthy kept two servants,
Speaker 1: a man and a girl. Turner had a considerable household,
Speaker 1: some half dozen at the least. That is as much
Speaker 1: as I have been able to gather about the families.
Speaker 1: Now for the facts. On June third, that is Monday last,
Speaker 1: McCarthy left his house at Hatherley about three in the
Speaker 1: afternoon and walked down to the Boscombe Pool, which is
Speaker 1: a small lake formed by the spreading out of the
Speaker 1: stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been
Speaker 1: out with his serving man in the morning at ross
Speaker 1: and he had told the man that he must hurry
Speaker 1: as he had an appointment of importance to keep it free.
Speaker 1: From that appointment, he never came back alive life. From
Speaker 1: Hatherley Farmhouse to the Boscombe Pool as a quarter of
Speaker 1: a mile, and two people saw him as he passed
Speaker 1: over this ground. One was an old woman whose name
Speaker 1: is not mentioned, and the other was William Crowder, a
Speaker 1: game keeper and the employ of mister Turner. Both these
Speaker 1: witnesses deposed that mister McCarthy was walking alone. The gamekeeper
Speaker 1: adds that within a few minutes of his seeing mister
Speaker 1: McCarthy pass he had seen his son, mister James McCarthy,
Speaker 1: going the same way with a gun under his arm.
Speaker 1: To the best of his belief, the father was actually
Speaker 1: in sight at the time and the son was following him.
Speaker 1: He thought no more of the matter until he heard
Speaker 1: in the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. The
Speaker 1: two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder,
Speaker 1: the gamekeeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is
Speaker 1: thickly wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and
Speaker 1: of reeds round the edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran,
Speaker 1: who is the daughter of the lodge keeper of the
Speaker 1: Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the woods making flowers.
Speaker 1: She states that while she was there, she saw at
Speaker 1: the border of the wooden close by the lake, mister
Speaker 1: McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be
Speaker 1: having a violent quarrel. She heard mister McCarthy the elder,
Speaker 1: using very strong language to his son, and she saw
Speaker 1: the latter raise up his hand as if to strike
Speaker 1: his father. She was so frightened by their violence that
Speaker 1: she ran away and told her mother when she reached home,
Speaker 1: that she had left the two McCarthy's quarreling near Boscombe Pool,
Speaker 1: and that she was afraid that they were going to fight.
Speaker 1: She had hardly said the words when young mister McCarthy
Speaker 1: came running up to the lodge to say that he
Speaker 1: had found his father dead in the wood and to
Speaker 1: ask for the help of the lodge keeper. He was
Speaker 1: much excited without either his gun or his hat, and
Speaker 1: his right hand and sleeve were observed to be stained
Speaker 1: with fresh blood. On following him, they found the dead
Speaker 1: body stretched out upon the grasp side the pool. The
Speaker 1: head had been beaten in by repeated blows of some
Speaker 1: heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as might
Speaker 1: very well have been in flick by the butt end
Speaker 1: of his son's gun, which was found lying on the
Speaker 1: grass within a few paces of the body. Under these circumstances,
Speaker 1: the young man was instantly arrested, and a verdict of
Speaker 1: wilful murder having been returned at the inquest on Tuesday,
Speaker 1: he was on Wednesday brought before the Magistrates at Ross,
Speaker 1: who have referred the case to the next sizes. Those
Speaker 1: are the main facts of the case as they came
Speaker 1: out before the coroner and the police court. I could
Speaker 1: hardly imagine a more damning case, I remarked, If ever
Speaker 1: circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal, it does so here.
Speaker 1: Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing, answered Holmes thoughtfully.
Speaker 1: It may seem to point very straight to one thing,
Speaker 1: but if you shift your own point of view a little,
Speaker 1: you may find it pointing in an equally uncompromising manner
Speaker 1: to something entirely different. It must be confess, however, that
Speaker 1: the case looks exceedingly grave against the young man, a
Speaker 1: very possible that he is indeed the culbrit. There are
Speaker 1: several people in the neighborhood, however, and among them Miss Turner,
Speaker 1: the daughter of the neighboring landowner, who believe in his innocence,
Speaker 1: and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect in
Speaker 1: connection with the study in Scarlet, to work out the
Speaker 1: case in his interest. The Strade, being rather puzzled, has
Speaker 1: referred the case to me, and hence it is that
Speaker 1: two middle aged gentlemen are flying westward at fifty miles
Speaker 1: an hour instead of quietly digesting their breakfasts at home.
Speaker 1: I am afraid, said I, that the facts are so
Speaker 1: obvious that you will find little credit to be gained
Speaker 1: out of this case. There is nothing more deceptive than
Speaker 1: an obvious fact, he answered, laughing. Besides, we may chance
Speaker 1: to hit upon some other obvious facts which may have
Speaker 1: been by no means obvious to mister Lestrade. You know
Speaker 1: me too well to think that I am boasting when
Speaker 1: I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his
Speaker 1: theory by means which he is quite incapable of employing,
Speaker 1: or even of understanding. To take the first example to hand,
Speaker 1: I very clearly perceive that in your bedroom the window
Speaker 1: is upon the right hand side. And yet I question
Speaker 1: whether Miss Lestrade would have noticed even so self evident
Speaker 1: a thing as that. How on earth, my dear fellow,
Speaker 1: I know you well, I know the military neatness which
Speaker 1: characterizes you. You shave every morning, and in this season
Speaker 1: you shave by the sunlight. But since your shaving is
Speaker 1: less and less complete as we get farther back on
Speaker 1: the left side, and till it becomes positively slovenly as
Speaker 1: we get round the angle of the jaw, it is
Speaker 1: surely very clear that that side is less illuminated than
Speaker 1: the other. I could not imagine a man of your
Speaker 1: habits looking at himself in an equal light and being
Speaker 1: satisfied with such a result. I only quote this as
Speaker 1: a trivial example of observation and inference. Therein lies my metier,
Speaker 1: and it is just possible that it may be of
Speaker 1: some service in the investigation which life before us There
Speaker 1: are one or two minor points which are brought out
Speaker 1: in the inquest in which are worth considering. What are they?
Speaker 1: It appears that his arrest did not take place at once,
Speaker 1: but after the return to Hatherley Farm. On the Inspector
Speaker 1: of Constabulary informing him that he was a prisoner, he
Speaker 1: remarked that he was not surprised to hear it, and
Speaker 1: that it was no more than his deserts. This observation
Speaker 1: of his had the natural effect of removing any traces
Speaker 1: of doubt which might have remained in the minds of
Speaker 1: the coroner's jury. It was a confession I ejaculated no,
Speaker 1: for it was followed by a protestation of innostance. Coming
Speaker 1: on top of such a damning series of events, It
Speaker 1: was at the least a most suspicious remark. On the contrary,
Speaker 1: said Holmes, it is the brightest rift which I can
Speaker 1: at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be,
Speaker 1: he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not
Speaker 1: to see that the circumstances were very black against him.
Speaker 1: Had he appeared supp prized at his own arrest, or
Speaker 1: feigned indignation at it, I should have looked upon it
Speaker 1: as highly suspicious, because such surprise or anger would not
Speaker 1: be natural under the circumstances, and yet might appear to
Speaker 1: be the best policy to a scheming man. His frank
Speaker 1: acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocant man,
Speaker 1: or else as a man of considerable self restraint and firmness.
Speaker 1: As to his remark about his deserts, it was also
Speaker 1: not unnatural for you consider that he stood beside the
Speaker 1: dead body of his father, and that there is no
Speaker 1: doubt that he had that very day so far forgotten
Speaker 1: his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and
Speaker 1: even according to the little girl, whose evidence is so important,
Speaker 1: to raise his hand as if to strike him. The
Speaker 1: self reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark
Speaker 1: appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind,
Speaker 1: rather than of a guilty one. I shook my head.
Speaker 1: Many men have been hanged on far slighter evidence, I remarked,
Speaker 1: So they, and many men have been wrongfully hanged. What
Speaker 1: is the young man's own account of the matter. It is,
Speaker 1: I am afraid, not very encouraging to his support, As
Speaker 1: though there are one or two points in it which
Speaker 1: are suggestive you will find it here and may read
Speaker 1: it for yourself. He picked out from his bundle a
Speaker 1: copy of the local Herefordshire paper, and having turned down
Speaker 1: the sheet, he pointed out the paragraph in which the
Speaker 1: unfortunate young man had given his own statement of what
Speaker 1: had occurred. I settled myself down in the corner of
Speaker 1: the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in
Speaker 1: this way. Mister James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased,
Speaker 1: was then called and gave evidence as follows. I had
Speaker 1: been away from home for three days at Bristol, and
Speaker 1: had only just returned upon the morning of last Monday
Speaker 1: the third. My father was absent from home at the
Speaker 1: time of my arrival, and I was informed by the
Speaker 1: maid that he had driven over to Ross with John Cobb,
Speaker 1: the groom. Shortly after my return, I heard the wheels
Speaker 1: of his trap in the yard, and looking out of
Speaker 1: my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly
Speaker 1: out of the yard, though I was not aware in
Speaker 1: which direction he was going. I then took my gun
Speaker 1: and strolled out in the direction of the Boscombe Pool,
Speaker 1: with the intention of visiting the rabbit warren, which is
Speaker 1: upon the other side. On my way. I saw William Crowder,
Speaker 1: the gamekeeper, as he had stated in his evidence, but
Speaker 1: he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father.
Speaker 1: I had no idea that he was in front of me.
Speaker 1: When about a hundred yards from the pool, I heard
Speaker 1: a cry of cooie, which is an unusual signal between
Speaker 1: my father and myself. I then hurried forward and found
Speaker 1: him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much
Speaker 1: surprised at seeing me, and asked me rather roughly what
Speaker 1: I was doing there. A conversation ensued which led to
Speaker 1: high words and almost blows. For my father was a
Speaker 1: man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his passion
Speaker 1: was becoming ungovernable, I left him in returned towards Hatherly Farm.
Speaker 1: I had not gone more than one hundred fifty yards, however,
Speaker 1: when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused
Speaker 1: me to run back again. I found my father expiring
Speaker 1: upon the ground, with his head terribly injured. I dropped
Speaker 1: my gun and held him in my arms, but he
Speaker 1: almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for some minutes,
Speaker 1: and then made my way to mister Turner's lodge keeper,
Speaker 1: his house being the nearest to ask for assistance. I
Speaker 1: saw no one near my father when I returned, and
Speaker 1: I have no idea how he came by his injuries.
Speaker 1: He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and
Speaker 1: forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as
Speaker 1: I know, no active enemies. I know nothing further of
Speaker 1: the matter. The coroner. Did your father make any statement
Speaker 1: to you before he died? Witness? He mumbled a few words,
Speaker 1: but I could only catch some allusion to a rat.
Speaker 1: The Coroner, What did you understand by that? Witness? It
Speaker 1: conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was delirious.
Speaker 1: The corner. What was the point upon which in your
Speaker 1: father had this final quarrel? Witness, I should prefer not
Speaker 1: to answer, the Coroner. I am afraid that I must
Speaker 1: press it, Witness, it is really impossible for me to
Speaker 1: tell you. I can assure you that it has nothing
Speaker 1: to do with the sad tragedy which followed. The Coroner.
Speaker 1: That is for the court to decide. I need not
Speaker 1: point out to you that your refusal to answer will
Speaker 1: prejudice your case considerably in any future proceedings which may arise, Witness.
Speaker 1: I still must refuse the coroner. I understand that the
Speaker 1: cry of Kui was a common signal between you and
Speaker 1: your father. Witness it was the coroner. How was it, then,
Speaker 1: that he uttered it before he saw you, and before
Speaker 1: he even knew that you would return from Bristol? Witness
Speaker 1: with considerable confusion. I do not know, a juryman. Did
Speaker 1: you see nothing which aroused your suspicions when you return
Speaker 1: and on hearing the cry and found your father fatally injured?
Speaker 1: Witness nothing definite, the coroner. What do you mean, Witness.
Speaker 1: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out
Speaker 1: into the open that I could think of nothing except
Speaker 1: my father. Yes, I have a vague impression that as
Speaker 1: I ran forward, something lay upon the ground to the
Speaker 1: left of me. It seemed to be something gray in color,
Speaker 1: a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. When
Speaker 1: I rose from my father, I looked round for it,
Speaker 1: but it was gone. Do you mean that it had
Speaker 1: disappeared before you went to help? Yes, it was gone.
Speaker 1: You cannot say what it was. No, I had a
Speaker 1: feeling something was there, how far from the body a
Speaker 1: dozen yards or so, and how far from the edge
Speaker 1: of the wood about the same. Then if it was removed,
Speaker 1: it was while you were within a dozen yards of it, Yes,
Speaker 1: but with my back towards it. This concluded the examination
Speaker 1: of the witness. I see, said I as I glanced
Speaker 1: down the column, that the coroner, in his concluding remarks,
Speaker 1: was rather severe upon young McCarthy. He calls attention and
Speaker 1: with reason to the discrepancy about his father having signaled
Speaker 1: to him before seeing him, and also to his refusal
Speaker 1: to give details of his conversation with his father, and
Speaker 1: his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all,
Speaker 1: as he remarks, very much against the son. Holmes laughed
Speaker 1: softly to himself and stretched himself out upon the cushioned seat.
Speaker 1: Both you and the coronor have been at some pains,
Speaker 1: said he to single out the very strongest points in
Speaker 1: the young man's favor. Don't you see that you alternately
Speaker 1: give him credit for having too much imagination and too
Speaker 1: little too little if he could not invent a cause
Speaker 1: of quarrel which would give him the sympathy of the jury,
Speaker 1: too much, if he evolved from his own inner consciousness
Speaker 1: anything so utrey as a dying reference to a rat,
Speaker 1: and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, sir, I
Speaker 1: shall approach this case from the point of view that
Speaker 1: what this young man says is true, and we shall
Speaker 1: see whither that hypothesis will lead us. And now here
Speaker 1: is my pocket, Petrarch, And not another word shall I
Speaker 1: say of this case until we are on the scene
Speaker 1: of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that
Speaker 1: we shall be there in twenty minutes. It was nearly
Speaker 1: four o'clock when we, at last, after passing through the
Speaker 1: beautiful Stroud Valley and over the broad gleaming Severn, found
Speaker 1: ourselves at the pretty little country town of Ross. A
Speaker 1: lean ferret like man, furtive and sly looking, was waiting
Speaker 1: for us upon the platform. In spite of the light
Speaker 1: brown dustcoat and leather leggings which he wore in deference
Speaker 1: to his rustic surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognizing
Speaker 1: Lestrade of Scotland. Yard. With him, we drove to the
Speaker 1: Hereford Arms, where room had already been engaged for us.
Speaker 1: I have ordered a carriage, said Lestrade, as we sat
Speaker 1: over a cup of tea. I knew your energetic nature
Speaker 1: and that you would not be happy until you had
Speaker 1: been on the scene of the crime. It was very
Speaker 1: nice and complimentary of you, Holmes answered, it is entirely
Speaker 1: a question of barometric pressure. Lestrade looked startled. I do
Speaker 1: not quite follow, he said, how is the glass twenty nine?
Speaker 1: I see no wind and not a cloud in the sky.
Speaker 1: I have a case full of cigarettes here which needs smoking,
Speaker 1: and sofa is very much superior to the usual country
Speaker 1: hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable
Speaker 1: that I shall use the carriage to night. Lustrade laughed indulgently.
Speaker 1: You have no doubt already formed your conclusions from the newspapers,
Speaker 1: he said. The case is as plain as a pikestaff,
Speaker 1: and the more one goes into it, the plainer it becomes. Still.
Speaker 1: Of course, one can't refuse a lady in such a
Speaker 1: very positive one too. She has heard of you and
Speaker 1: would have your opinion, though I repeatedly told her that
Speaker 1: there was nothing which you could do which I had
Speaker 1: not already done. Why, bless my soul, here is her
Speaker 1: carriage at the door. He had hardly spoken before there
Speaker 1: rushed into the room one of the most lovely young
Speaker 1: women that I have ever seen in my life, her
Speaker 1: violet eyes shining, her lips parted a pink flush upon
Speaker 1: her cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in
Speaker 1: her overpowering excitement and concern. Oh, mister Sherlock Holmes, she cried,
Speaker 1: glancing from one to the other of us, and finally,
Speaker 1: with a woman's quick intuition, fastening upon my companion. I
Speaker 1: am so glad that you have come. I have driven
Speaker 1: down to tell you so. I know that James didn't
Speaker 1: do it. I know it, and I want you to
Speaker 1: start upon your work knowing it too. Never let yourself
Speaker 1: doubt upon that point. We have known each other since
Speaker 1: we were little children, and I know his faults as
Speaker 1: no one else does. But he is too tender hearted
Speaker 1: to her to fly. Such a charge is absurd to
Speaker 1: any one who really knows him. I hope we may
Speaker 1: clear him, Miss Turner, said Sherlock Holmes. You may rely
Speaker 1: upon my doing all that I can, but you have
Speaker 1: read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion. Do you
Speaker 1: not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself
Speaker 1: think that he is innocent? I think that it is
Speaker 1: very probable. There now, she cried, throwing back her head
Speaker 1: and looking defiantly at lestrade you hear he gives me hopes.
Speaker 1: Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. I am afraid that my colleague
Speaker 1: has been a little quick informing his conclusions, he said.
Speaker 1: But he is right. Oh, I know that he is right.
Speaker 1: James never did it. And about his quarrel with his father,
Speaker 1: I am sure that the reason why he would not
Speaker 1: speak about it to the coroner is because I was
Speaker 1: concerned in it. In what way? Asked Holmes. It is
Speaker 1: no time for me to hide anything. James and his
Speaker 1: father had many disagreements about me. Mister McCarthy was very
Speaker 1: anxious that there should be a marriage between us. James
Speaker 1: and I have always left each other as brother and sister.
Speaker 1: But of course he is young and has seen very
Speaker 1: little of life yet, and and well, naturally he did
Speaker 1: not wish to do anything like that yet. So there
Speaker 1: were quarrels, and this, I am sure was one of them.
Speaker 1: And your father, asked Holmes, was he in favor of
Speaker 1: such a union? No, he was averse to it. Also,
Speaker 1: No one but mister McCarthy was in favor of it.
Speaker 1: A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as
Speaker 1: Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her.
Speaker 1: Thank you for this information, said he may I see
Speaker 1: your father. If I call to morrow, I am afraid
Speaker 1: the doctor won't allow it. The doctor, yes, have you
Speaker 1: not heard? Poor father has never been strong for years back,
Speaker 1: but this has broken him down completely. He is taken
Speaker 1: to his bed and doctor Willows says that he is
Speaker 1: a wreck and that his nervous system is shattered. Mister
Speaker 1: McCarthy was the only man alive who had known Dad
Speaker 1: in the old days in Victoria. Ha, in Victoria. That
Speaker 1: is important. Yes, at the mines, quite so, at the
Speaker 1: gold mines, where as I understand, mister Turner made his money. Yes, certainly,
Speaker 1: thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance
Speaker 1: to me. You will tell me if you have any
Speaker 1: news tomorrow. No doubt you will go to the prison
Speaker 1: to see James. Oh. If you do, mister Holmes, do
Speaker 1: tell him that I know him to be innocent. I will,
Speaker 1: miss Turner. I must go home now, for Dad is
Speaker 1: very ill and he misses me. So if I leave him,
Speaker 1: good bye, and God help you in your undertaking. She
Speaker 1: hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered,
Speaker 1: and we heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off
Speaker 1: down the street. I am ashamed of you, Holmes said
Speaker 1: Lestrade with dignity, after a few minutes silence. Why should
Speaker 1: you raise up hopes which you are bound to disappoint.
Speaker 1: I am not over tender of heart, but I call
Speaker 1: it cruel. I think that I see my way to clearing.
Speaker 1: James mc carthy said, Holmes, have you in order to
Speaker 1: see him in prison? Yes, but only for you and me?
Speaker 1: Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We
Speaker 1: have still time to take a train to Hereford and
Speaker 1: see him to night. Ample, then let us do so.
Speaker 1: Wats an I fear that you will find it very slow,
Speaker 1: but I shall only be away a couple of hours.
Speaker 1: I walked down to the station with them, and then
Speaker 1: wandered through the streets of the little town, finally returning
Speaker 1: to the hotel, where I lay upon the sofa and
Speaker 1: tried to interest myself in a yellow backed novel. The
Speaker 1: puny plot of the story was so thin, however, when
Speaker 1: compared to the deep mystery through which we were groping,
Speaker 1: and I found my attention wander so continually from the action,
Speaker 1: to the fact that I at last flung it across
Speaker 1: the room and gave myself up entirely to a consideration
Speaker 1: of the events of the day, supposing that this unhappy
Speaker 1: young man's story were absolutely truth, and what hellish thing,
Speaker 1: What absolutely unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between
Speaker 1: the time when he parted from his father and the
Speaker 1: moment when drawn back by his screams, he rushed into
Speaker 1: the glade. It was something terrible and deadly. What could
Speaker 1: it be? Might not the nature of the injuries reveal
Speaker 1: something to my medical instincts? I rang the bell and
Speaker 1: called for the weekly country page Papor, which contained a
Speaker 1: verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's deposition, it
Speaker 1: was stated that the posterior third of the left parietal
Speaker 1: bone and left half of the occipital bone had been
Speaker 1: shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I
Speaker 1: marked the spot upon my own head. Clearly such a
Speaker 1: blow must have been struck from behind. That was to
Speaker 1: some extent in favor of the accused, as when seen quarreling,
Speaker 1: he was face to face with his father. Still it
Speaker 1: did not go for very much, for the older man
Speaker 1: might have turned his back before the blow fell. Still,
Speaker 1: it might be worth while to call Holmes' attention to it.
Speaker 1: Then there was the peculiar dying reference to a rat.
Speaker 1: What could that mean? It could not be delirium. A
Speaker 1: man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become delirious. No,
Speaker 1: it was more likely to be an attempt to explain
Speaker 1: how he met his fate. But what could it indicate?
Speaker 1: I cuddled my brains to find some possible explanation, And
Speaker 1: then the incident of the gray cloth seen by young McCarthy.
Speaker 1: If that were true, the murderer must have dropped some
Speaker 1: part of his dress, presumably his overcoat, in his flight,
Speaker 1: and must have had the hardihood to return and to
Speaker 1: carry it away at the instant when the sun was
Speaker 1: kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off.
Speaker 1: What a tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was.
Speaker 1: I did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, And yet I
Speaker 1: had so much faith in Sherlock Holmes's insight that I
Speaker 1: could not lose hope as long as every fresh fact
Speaker 1: seemed to strengthen his conviction of young McCarthy's innocence. It
Speaker 1: was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone,
Speaker 1: for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. The
Speaker 1: glass still keeps very high, he remarked, as he sat down.
Speaker 1: It is of importance that it should not rain before
Speaker 1: we are able to go over the ground. On the
Speaker 1: other hand, a man should be at his very best
Speaker 1: and keyness for such a nice work as that, And
Speaker 1: I did not wish to do it when fagged by
Speaker 1: a long journey. I have seen young MacCarthy, And what
Speaker 1: did you learn from him? Nothing? Could he throw no light,
Speaker 1: none at all. I was inclined to think at one
Speaker 1: time that he knew who had done it and was
Speaker 1: screening him or her. But I am convinced now that
Speaker 1: he is as puzzled as every one else. He is
Speaker 1: not a very quick witted use, though kindly to look at,
Speaker 1: and I should think sound at heart. I cannot admire
Speaker 1: his taste, I remarked. If it is indeed a fact
Speaker 1: that he was averse to a marriage with so charming
Speaker 1: a young lady as this miss turner Ah, thereby hangs
Speaker 1: a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, insanely in
Speaker 1: love with her, but some two years ago, when he
Speaker 1: was only a lad, and before he really knew her,
Speaker 1: for she had been away five years at a boarding school.
Speaker 1: What does the idiot do but get into the clutches
Speaker 1: of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a
Speaker 1: registry office. No one knows a word of the matter,
Speaker 1: but you can imagine how madning it must be to
Speaker 1: him to be upbraided for not doing what he would
Speaker 1: give his very eyes to do, but which he knows
Speaker 1: to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this
Speaker 1: sort which made him throw his hands up into the
Speaker 1: air when his father, at their last interview, was goading
Speaker 1: him on to propose to Miss Turner. On the other hand,
Speaker 1: he had no means of supporting himself, and his father,
Speaker 1: who was by all accounts a very hard man, would
Speaker 1: have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth.
Speaker 1: It was with his bar made wife that he had
Speaker 1: spent the last three days in Bristol, and his father
Speaker 1: did not know where he was. Mark that point, it
Speaker 1: is of importance good has come out of evil, however,
Speaker 1: for the bar maid, finding from the papers that he
Speaker 1: is in serious trouble and likely to be hanged, has
Speaker 1: thrown him over utterly, and has written to him to
Speaker 1: say that she has a husband already in the Bermuda dockyard,
Speaker 1: so that there is really no tie between them. I
Speaker 1: think that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for
Speaker 1: all that he has suffered. But if he is innocent,
Speaker 1: who has done it? Ah? Who? I would call your
Speaker 1: attention very particularly to two points. One is that the
Speaker 1: murdered man had an appointment with someone at the pool,
Speaker 1: and that the someone could not have been his son,
Speaker 1: for his son was away and he did not know
Speaker 1: when he would return. The second is that the murdered
Speaker 1: man was heard to cry couie before he knew that
Speaker 1: his son had returned. Those are the crucial points upon
Speaker 1: which the case depends. And now let us talk about
Speaker 1: George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all
Speaker 1: minor matters until tomorrow. There was no rain, as Holmes
Speaker 1: had foretold, and the morning broke bright and cloudless. At
Speaker 1: nine o'clock Less Strade called for us with the carriage,
Speaker 1: and we set off for Hazily Farm in the Boscombe Pool.
Speaker 1: Very serious news this morning, the Strade observed. It is
Speaker 1: said that mister Turner of the Hall is so ill
Speaker 1: that his life is despaired. Of an elderly man, I
Speaker 1: presume said Holmes about sixty. But his constitution has been
Speaker 1: shattered by his life abroad, and he has been in
Speaker 1: failing health for some time. This business has had a
Speaker 1: very bad effect him. He was an old friend of MacCarthy's,
Speaker 1: and I may add a great benefactor to him, for
Speaker 1: I have learned that he gave him heavily farm rent free. Indeed,
Speaker 1: that is interesting, said Holmes. Oh, yes, in a hundred
Speaker 1: other ways he has helped him. Everybody about here speaks
Speaker 1: of his kindness to him. Really, does it not strike
Speaker 1: you as a little singular that this MacCarthy, who appears
Speaker 1: to have had little of his own, and to have
Speaker 1: been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of
Speaker 1: marrying his son to turn his daughter, who is presumably
Speaker 1: heiress to the estate, and that in such a very
Speaker 1: coxure manner, as if it were merely a case of proposal,
Speaker 1: and all else would follow. It is the more strange
Speaker 1: since we know that Turner himself was averse to the idea.
Speaker 1: The daughter told us, as much, do you not deduce
Speaker 1: something from that? We have got to the deduce's and
Speaker 1: the inferences, said Lestrade, winking at me. I find it
Speaker 1: hard enough to tackle facts home was out flying away
Speaker 1: after theories and fancies. You are ight, said Holmes, demurely,
Speaker 1: you do find it very hard to tackle the facts. Anyhow,
Speaker 1: I have grasped one fact which you seemed to find
Speaker 1: it difficult to get hold of, replied Lestrade with some warmth,
Speaker 1: and that is that MacCarthy senior met his death from
Speaker 1: McCarthy junior, and that all theories still the contrary are
Speaker 1: the merest moonshine. Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog,
Speaker 1: said Holmes, laughing. But I am very much mistaken if
Speaker 1: this is not happily farm upon the left, Yes, that
Speaker 1: is it. It was a widespread, comfortable looking building, two storied,
Speaker 1: slate roofed, with great yellow blotches of lichen upon the
Speaker 1: gray walls. The drawn blinds and smokeless chimneys, however, gave
Speaker 1: it a stricken look, as though the weight of this
Speaker 1: horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the
Speaker 1: door when the maid, at Holmes's request, showed us the
Speaker 1: boots which her master wore at the time of his death,
Speaker 1: and also a pair of the suns, though not the
Speaker 1: pair which he had then had. Having measured these very
Speaker 1: careful from seven or eight different points, Holmes desire to
Speaker 1: be led to the courtyard, from which we all followed
Speaker 1: the winding track which led to Boscombe pool Sherlock Holmes
Speaker 1: was transformed when he was hot. Upon such ascent as this,
Speaker 1: Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician
Speaker 1: of Baker Street would have failed to recognize him. His
Speaker 1: face flushed and darkened, his brows were drawn into two
Speaker 1: hard black lines, while his eyes shone out from beneath
Speaker 1: them with a steely glitter. His face was bent downward,
Speaker 1: his shoulders bowed, his lips compressed, and the veins stood
Speaker 1: out like whipcord in his long, sinewy neck. His nostrils
Speaker 1: seemed to dilate with a purely animal lust for the chase,
Speaker 1: and his mind was so absolutely concentrated upon the matter
Speaker 1: before him that a question or remark fell unheeded upon
Speaker 1: his ears, or at the most only provoked a quick,
Speaker 1: impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his
Speaker 1: way along the track, which ran through the meadows and
Speaker 1: so by way of the woods to the Boscombe Pool.
Speaker 1: It was damp, marshy ground, as is all that district,
Speaker 1: and there were marks of many feet, both upon the
Speaker 1: path and amid the short grass which bounded it on
Speaker 1: either side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead,
Speaker 1: and once he made quite a little detour into the
Speaker 1: meadow the straight and I walked behind him, the detective
Speaker 1: indifferent and contemptuous, while I watched my friend with the
Speaker 1: interest which sprang from the conviction that every one of
Speaker 1: his actions was directed towards a definite end. The Boscombe Pool,
Speaker 1: which is a little reed girt sheet of water some
Speaker 1: fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the
Speaker 1: Heatherly farm and the private park of the wealthy mister Turner,
Speaker 1: above the woods which lined it. Upon the farther side
Speaker 1: we could see the red jutting pinnacles which marked the
Speaker 1: site of the rich landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherly side
Speaker 1: of the pool, the woods grew very thick, and there
Speaker 1: was a narrow belt of sodden grass twenty paces across
Speaker 1: between the edge of the trees and the reeds which
Speaker 1: lined the lake. The strage showed us the exact spot
Speaker 1: at which the body had been found, and indeed, so
Speaker 1: moist was the ground that I could plainly see the
Speaker 1: traces which had been left by the fall of the
Speaker 1: stricken man to Holmes. As I could see by his
Speaker 1: eager face and peering eyes, very many other things were
Speaker 1: to be read upon the trampled grass. He ran round
Speaker 1: like a dog who was picking up a scent, and
Speaker 1: then turned upon my companion. What did you go into
Speaker 1: the pool for, he asked, I fished about with a rake.
Speaker 1: I thought there might be some weapon or other traits.
Speaker 1: But how on earth, oh, tut, tut, I have no time.
Speaker 1: That left foot of yours, with its inward twist, is
Speaker 1: all over the place. A mole could trace it, and
Speaker 1: there advanishes among the reeds. Oh how simple it would
Speaker 1: have all been had I been here before they came
Speaker 1: like a herd of buffalo and wallowed all over it.
Speaker 1: Here is where the party with the lodge keeper came,
Speaker 1: and they have covered all tracks for six or eight
Speaker 1: feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks
Speaker 1: of the same feet. He drew out a lens and
Speaker 1: lay down upon his waterproof to have a better view,
Speaker 1: talking all the time rather to himself than to us.
Speaker 1: These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he was talking, and
Speaker 1: once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are deeply marked,
Speaker 1: and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his story.
Speaker 1: He ran when he saw his father on the ground.
Speaker 1: Then here are the father's feet, as he paced up
Speaker 1: and down. What is this? Then? It is the butt
Speaker 1: and of the gun. As the son stood listening in this, Ha, ha,
Speaker 1: what have we here? Tiptoes tiptoes square to quite unusual boots.
Speaker 1: They come, they go, they come again. Of course that
Speaker 1: was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?
Speaker 1: He ran up and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track,
Speaker 1: until we were well within the edge of the wood
Speaker 1: and under the shadow of a great beach, the largest
Speaker 1: tree in the neighborhood. Holmes traced his way to the
Speaker 1: farther side of this and lay down once more, upon
Speaker 1: his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a
Speaker 1: long time he remained there, turning over the leaves and
Speaker 1: dried sticks, gathering up what seemed to me to be
Speaker 1: dust into an envelope, and examining with his lens not
Speaker 1: only the ground, but even the bark of the tree.
Speaker 1: As far as he could reach. A jagged stone was
Speaker 1: lying among the moss, and this he also carefully examined
Speaker 1: and retained. Then he followed a pathway through the wood
Speaker 1: until he came to the high road, where all traces
Speaker 1: were lost. It has been a case of considerable interest,
Speaker 1: he remarked, returning to his natural manner. I fancy that
Speaker 1: this gray house on the right must be the lodge.
Speaker 1: I think that I will go in and have a
Speaker 1: word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having
Speaker 1: done that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You
Speaker 1: may walk to the cab, and I shall be with you. Presently.
Speaker 1: It was about ten minutes before we have regained our
Speaker 1: cab and drove back into Ross Holmes, still carrying with
Speaker 1: him the stone which he had picked up in the wood.
Speaker 1: This may interest you, lestrade, he remarked, holding it out.
Speaker 1: The murder was done with it. I see no marks,
Speaker 1: there are none. How do you know? Then? The grass
Speaker 1: was growing under it. It had only lain there a
Speaker 1: few days. There was no sign of a place whence
Speaker 1: it had been taken. It corresponds with the injuries. There
Speaker 1: is no sign of any other weapon, and the murderer
Speaker 1: is a tall man, left handed, limps with the right leg.
Speaker 1: Where's thick soled shooting boots and a gray cloak. Smokes
Speaker 1: Indian cigars, uses a cigar holder, and clarries a blunt
Speaker 1: penknife in his pocket. There are several other indications, but
Speaker 1: these may be enough to aid us in our search.
Speaker 1: The Strade laughed. I am afraid that I am still
Speaker 1: a skeptic, he said. Theories are all very well, but
Speaker 1: we have to deal with a hard headed British jury.
Speaker 1: Nou Vent, answered Holmes, calmly, you work your own method
Speaker 1: and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon,
Speaker 1: and shall probably return to London by the evening train,
Speaker 1: and leave your case unfinished. No finished, But the mystery
Speaker 1: it is solved. Who is the criminal? Then the gentleman
Speaker 1: I describe? But who is he? Surely it would not
Speaker 1: be difficult to find out that this is not such
Speaker 1: a populous neighborhood. The Strade shrugged his shoulders. I am
Speaker 1: a practical man, he said, and I really cannot undertake
Speaker 1: to go about the country looking for a left handed
Speaker 1: gentleman with a game leg. I should become the laughing
Speaker 1: stock of Scotland. Yard all right, said Holmes quietly. I
Speaker 1: have given you the chance. Here are your lodgings. Good bye.
Speaker 1: I shall drop your line before I leave. Having left
Speaker 1: Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where
Speaker 1: we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and
Speaker 1: buried in thought, with a pain expression upon his face,
Speaker 1: as one who finds himself in a perplexing position. Look here, Watson,
Speaker 1: he said, when the cloth was cleared, just sit down
Speaker 1: in this chair and let me preach to you for
Speaker 1: a little. I don't know quite what to do when
Speaker 1: I should value your advice. Light a cigar and let
Speaker 1: me expound. Pray do so well. Now, in considering this case,
Speaker 1: there are two points about young mc carthy's narrative which
Speaker 1: struck us both instantly, although they impressed me in his
Speaker 1: favor and you against him. One was the fact that
Speaker 1: his father should, according to his account, cry COUI before
Speaker 1: seeing him. The other was his singular, dying reference to
Speaker 1: a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but that
Speaker 1: was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this
Speaker 1: double point, our research must commence, and we will begin
Speaker 1: it by presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true.
Speaker 1: What of this COUI? Then, well, obviously it could not
Speaker 1: have been meant for the sun. The son, as far
Speaker 1: as he knew was in Bristol. It was mere chance
Speaker 1: that he was within earshot. The coui was meant to
Speaker 1: attract the attention of whoever it was that he had
Speaker 1: the appointment with. But coui is a distinctly Australian cry,
Speaker 1: and one which is used between Australians. There is a
Speaker 1: strong presumption that the person whom MacCarthy expected to meet
Speaker 1: him at Boscombe Pool was someone who had been in Australia.
Speaker 1: What of the rat? Then, Sherlock Holmes took a folded
Speaker 1: paper from his pocket and flattened it out on the table.
Speaker 1: This is a map of the colony of Victoria, he said,
Speaker 1: I wired to Bristol for it last night. He put
Speaker 1: his hand over part of the map. What do you read?
Speaker 1: A rat? I read? And now he raised his hand. Balarat.
Speaker 1: Quite so, that was the word the man uttered, and
Speaker 1: of which his son only caught the last two syllables.
Speaker 1: He was trying to utter the name of his murderer.
Speaker 1: So and so of Ballarat. Tis wonderful, I exclaimed, it
Speaker 1: is obvious, And now you see I had narrowed the
Speaker 1: field down considerably. The possession of a gray garment was
Speaker 1: a third point, which granting the son's statement to be
Speaker 1: correct was a certainty. We have come now, out of
Speaker 1: mere vagueness, to the definite conception of an Australian from
Speaker 1: Ballarat with a gray cloak, certainly, and one who was
Speaker 1: at home in the district. For the pool can only
Speaker 1: be approached by the farm or by the estate, where
Speaker 1: strangers could hardly wander. Quite so then comes our expedition
Speaker 1: of to day. By an examination of the ground, I
Speaker 1: gained the trifling details which I gave to that imbecile
Speaker 1: astrade as to the personality of the criminal. But how
Speaker 1: did you gain them? You know my method? It is
Speaker 1: founded upon the observation of trifles. His height, I might
Speaker 1: know that you might roughly judge from the length of
Speaker 1: his stride. His boots, too might be told from their traces. Yes,
Speaker 1: they were peculiar boots. But his lameness, the impression of
Speaker 1: his right foot was always less distinct than his left.
Speaker 1: He put less weight upon it, why because he limped
Speaker 1: He was lame, But his left handedness. You were yourself
Speaker 1: struck by the nature of the injury. As recorded by
Speaker 1: the surgeon at the inquest, the blow was struck from
Speaker 1: immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now,
Speaker 1: how can that be unless it were by a left
Speaker 1: handed man. He had stood behind that tree during the
Speaker 1: interview between the father and son. He had even smoked there.
Speaker 1: I found the ash of a cigar, which my special
Speaker 1: knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an
Speaker 1: Indian cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention
Speaker 1: to this and written a little monograph on the ashes
Speaker 1: of a hundred and forty different varieties of pipe cigar
Speaker 1: and cigarette tobacco. Having found the ash, I then looked
Speaker 1: round and discovered the stump among the moss where he
Speaker 1: had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar of the
Speaker 1: variety which our rolled in Rottendam, and the cigar holder
Speaker 1: I could see that the end had not been in
Speaker 1: his mouth, therefore he used a holder. The tip had
Speaker 1: been cut off, not bitten off, but the cut was
Speaker 1: not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt penknife. Holmes,
Speaker 1: I said, you have drawn a net round this man
Speaker 1: from which he cannot escape, and you have saved an
Speaker 1: innocent human life, as truly as if you had cut
Speaker 1: the cord which was hanging him. I see the direction
Speaker 1: in which all this points the culprit is. Mister John Turner, cried,
Speaker 1: the hotel waiter, opening the door of our sitting room
Speaker 1: and uttering in a visitor. The man who entered was
Speaker 1: a strange and impressive figure. His slow limping step and
Speaker 1: bowed shoulders gave the appearance of decrepitude, and yet his hard,
Speaker 1: deep lined, craggy features and his enormous limbs showed that
Speaker 1: he was possessed of unusual strength of body and of character.
Speaker 1: His tangled beard, grizzled hair, and outstanding drooping eyebrows combined
Speaker 1: to give an air of dignity and power to his appearance.
Speaker 1: But his face was of an ashen white, while his
Speaker 1: lips and the corners of his nostrils were tinged with
Speaker 1: a shade of blue. It was clear to me at
Speaker 1: a glance that he was in the grip of some
Speaker 1: deadly and chronic disease. Pray sit down on the sofa,
Speaker 1: said Holmes gently. You had my note, Yes, the lodge
Speaker 1: keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to
Speaker 1: see me here to avoid scandal. I thought people would
Speaker 1: talk if I went to the hall, And why did
Speaker 1: you wish to see me? He looked across at my
Speaker 1: companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his
Speaker 1: question was already answered. Yes, said Holmes, answering the look
Speaker 1: rather than the words. It is so I know all
Speaker 1: about McCarthy. The old man sank his face in his hands.
Speaker 1: God help me, he cried. But I would not have
Speaker 1: let the young man come to harm. I give you
Speaker 1: my word that I would have spoken out if it
Speaker 1: went again to him at the assizes. I am glad
Speaker 1: to hear you say so, said Holmes gravely. I would
Speaker 1: have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl.
Speaker 1: It would break her heart. It will break her heart
Speaker 1: when she hears that I am arrested. It may not
Speaker 1: come to that, said Holmes. What I am no official agent.
Speaker 1: I understand that it was your daughter who required my
Speaker 1: presence here, and I am acting in her interests. Young
Speaker 1: MacCarthy must be got off. However, I am a dying man,
Speaker 1: said old Turner. I have had diabetes for year. My
Speaker 1: doctor says it is a question whether I shall live
Speaker 1: a month. Yet I would rather die under my own
Speaker 1: roof than in a jail. Holmes rose and sat down
Speaker 1: at the table with his pen in his hand and
Speaker 1: a bundle of paper before him. Just tell us the truth,
Speaker 1: he said. I shall drop down the facts, you will
Speaker 1: sign it, and Watson here can witness it. Then I
Speaker 1: could produce your confession at the last extremity to save
Speaker 1: young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall not use
Speaker 1: it unless it is absolutely needed. It's as well said
Speaker 1: the old man. It's a question whether I shall live
Speaker 1: to the assizes. So it matters little to me, but
Speaker 1: I should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now
Speaker 1: I will make the thing clear to you. It has
Speaker 1: been a long time in the acting, but it will
Speaker 1: not take me long to tell you didn't know this
Speaker 1: dead man MacCarthy. He was a devil incarnate. I tell
Speaker 1: you that God keep you out of the clutches of
Speaker 1: such a man as he. His grip has been upon
Speaker 1: me these twenty years, and he has blasted my life.
Speaker 1: I'll tell you first how I came to be in
Speaker 1: his power. It was in the early sixties at the Diggings.
Speaker 1: I was a young chap then, hot blooded and reckless,
Speaker 1: ready to turn my hand at anything I got among
Speaker 1: bad companions. Took to drink, had no luck with my claim,
Speaker 1: took to the bush, and in a word, became what
Speaker 1: you would call over here a highway rubber. There were
Speaker 1: six of us and we had a wild, free life
Speaker 1: of it, sticking up a station from time to time,
Speaker 1: or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings.
Speaker 1: Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under,
Speaker 1: and our party is still remembered in the colony as
Speaker 1: the Ballarat Gang. One day a gold convoy came down
Speaker 1: from Ballarat to Melbourne, and we lay in wait for
Speaker 1: it and attacked it. There were troopers and six of us,
Speaker 1: so was a close thing, but we emptied four of
Speaker 1: their saddles. At the first volley. Three of our boys
Speaker 1: were killed. However, before we got the swag, I put
Speaker 1: my pistol to the head of the wagon driver, who
Speaker 1: was this very man McCarthy. I wished to the Lord
Speaker 1: that I had shot him then, but I spared him,
Speaker 1: though I saw his wicked little eyes fixed on my face,
Speaker 1: as though to remember every feature. We got away with
Speaker 1: the gold, became wealthy men and made our way over
Speaker 1: to England without being suspected. There I parted from my
Speaker 1: old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet
Speaker 1: and respectable life. I bought this estate which chanced to
Speaker 1: be in the market, and I set myself to do
Speaker 1: a little good with my money to make up for
Speaker 1: the way in which I had earned it. I married too,
Speaker 1: and though my wife died young, she left me my
Speaker 1: dear little Alice, even when she was just a baby.
Speaker 1: Her wee hand seemed to lead me down the right
Speaker 1: path as nothing else had ever done. In a word,
Speaker 1: I turned over a new leaf and did my best
Speaker 1: to make up for the past. All was going well
Speaker 1: when MacCarthy laid his grip upon me. I had gone
Speaker 1: up to town about an investment, and I met him
Speaker 1: in Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back
Speaker 1: or a boot to his foot. Here we are, Jack,
Speaker 1: says he, touching me on the arm. We'll be as
Speaker 1: good as a family to you. There's two of us,
Speaker 1: me and my son, and you can have the keeping
Speaker 1: of us if you don't. It's a fine law abiding
Speaker 1: country as England, and there's always a policeman within hail
Speaker 1: well down. They came to the West Country, there was
Speaker 1: no shaking them off, and there they have lived rent
Speaker 1: free on my best land ever since. There was no
Speaker 1: rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness. Turned where I
Speaker 1: would there was his cunning, grinning face at my elbow.
Speaker 1: It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon
Speaker 1: saw I was more afraid of her knowing my past
Speaker 1: than of the police. Whatever he wanted he must have,
Speaker 1: and whatever it was I gave him without question, land, money, houses,
Speaker 1: until at last he asked a thing which I could
Speaker 1: not give. He asked for Alice. His son, you see,
Speaker 1: had grown up, and so had my girl, And as
Speaker 1: I was known to be in weak health, it seemed
Speaker 1: a fine stroke to him that his lad should step
Speaker 1: into the whole property. But there I was firm. I
Speaker 1: would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine. Not
Speaker 1: that I had any dislike to the lad, but his
Speaker 1: blood was in him, and that was enough. I stood firm.
Speaker 1: MacCarthy threatened, I braved him to do his worst. We
Speaker 1: were to meet at the pool midway between our houses
Speaker 1: to talk it over. When I went down there, I
Speaker 1: found him talking with his son. So I smoked a
Speaker 1: cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone.
Speaker 1: But as I listened to his talk, all that was
Speaker 1: black and bitter in me seemed to come uppermost. He
Speaker 1: was urging his son to marry my daughter, with his
Speaker 1: little regard for what she might think, as if she
Speaker 1: were a slut from off the streets. It drove me
Speaker 1: mad to think that I and all that I held
Speaker 1: most dear, should be in the power of such a
Speaker 1: man as this. Could I not snap the bond. I
Speaker 1: was already a dying and desperate man. Though clear of
Speaker 1: mind and fairly strong of limb. I knew that my
Speaker 1: own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl
Speaker 1: both could be saved if I could but silence that
Speaker 1: foul tongue. I did it, mister Holmes, I would do
Speaker 1: it again, deeply as I have sinned. I have led
Speaker 1: a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that
Speaker 1: my girl should be entangled in the same meshes which
Speaker 1: held me was more than I could suffer. I struck
Speaker 1: him down with no more compunction than if he had
Speaker 1: been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought back
Speaker 1: his son, but I had gained the cover of the wood,
Speaker 1: though I was forced to go back to fetch the
Speaker 1: cloak which I had dropped in my flight. That is
Speaker 1: the true story, gentlemen, of all that occurred. Well, it
Speaker 1: is not for me to judge, you, said Holmes, as
Speaker 1: the old man signed the statement which had been drawn out.
Speaker 1: I pray that we may never be exposed to such
Speaker 1: a temptation. I pray not, sir. And what do you
Speaker 1: intend to do in view of your health? Nothing? You
Speaker 1: are yourself aware that you will soon have to answer
Speaker 1: for your deed to a higher court than the Assizes.
Speaker 1: I will keep your confession, and if MacCarthy is condemned,
Speaker 1: I shall be forced to use it. If not, it
Speaker 1: shall never be seen by mortal eye. And your secret,
Speaker 1: whether you be alive or dead, shall be safe with us. Farewell, then,
Speaker 1: said the old man, solemnly. Your own death beds, when
Speaker 1: they come, will be the easier for the thought of
Speaker 1: the peace which you have given to mine. Tottering and
Speaker 1: shaking in all his giant frame, he stumbled slowly from
Speaker 1: the room. God help us, said Holmes, after a long silence.
Speaker 1: Why does fate play such tricks with poor helpless worms.
Speaker 1: I never hear of such a case as this that
Speaker 1: I do not think of Baxter's words and say, there
Speaker 1: but for the grace of God, go Sherlock Holmes. James
Speaker 1: McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of
Speaker 1: a number of objections which had been drawn out by
Speaker 1: Holmes and submitted to the defending council. Old Turner lived
Speaker 1: for seven months after our interview, but he is now dead,
Speaker 1: and there is every prospect that the son and daughter
Speaker 1: may come to live happily together, in ignorance of the
Speaker 1: black cloud which rests upon their past. End of adventure
Speaker 1: four The Boscombe Valley Mystery.